Girl Power Summer Camps at the Centre

Over the course of three weeks this summer, more than 40 girls occupied the Women’s Centre’s basement to explore relevant issues around gender, identity, body image, healthy relationships, leadership and activism. Girls tried new activities like belly dancing, yoga and different kinds of crafts. They participated in living libraries where inspiring women leaders and activists came to share their stories of challenge and success. They took over the Women’s Centre’s Twitter page. They played many intense games of foosball and air hockey, laughed until their tummies hurt, and carried out social action projects focused on changing school dress codes and bullying. The summer was exciting, to say the least!

The goals of all of our Girl Programs are to support girls to build confidence and self-esteem while building community with other girls and practicing leadership and activism. Girls told us:

“Girl Power is a place where you can be yourself, meet new people, have fun, make crafts, and it’s just in general a safe and friendly environment.”

“At Girl Power I learned not to be afraid of sharing my ideas!”

“[I learned that activism] is changing the world for the good and
anyone can do it!”

Think this all sounds great? Know a girl who might be interested, but missed the summer camps? You’re in luck! We have two programs running during the school year too! Both are totally free, and all snacks, supplies and bus tickets will be provided.

The first program is Girl Power After School, which is starting up again after a successful first year! This is a drop-in program is for girls aged 10-13 and will run every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30-5:30pm (doors open at 3:30, programming begins at 4) from September 6, 2016 until June 2017. We still have room for more participants!

The second program is Girl Up, a brand new program for girls aged 14-17, is launching on September 13, and will run every Tuesday evenings from 6-7:30pm for three sessions: Sept-Dec, Jan-March, April-June. Girls are welcome to participate in one session or all of them, depending on their time and interest.